Tactical Intervention teaser will remind you of Counter-Strike

More than a decade has passed since Minh Le and Jess Cliffe forever changed the world of online multiplayer shooters by releasing Counter-Strike, then a mod for the original Half-Life. CS went on to become a standalone product, and it's still one of the most popular games around. Right now, over 120,000 people are playing Counter-Strike on Steam—more than the number of Skyrim and multiplayer Modern Warfare 3 players combined.

Valve has its own Global Offensive sequel to Counter-Strike due out early this year. Cliffe now works at Valve and no doubt has had a hand in developing the new game. What about Le? He was hired by Valve, too, but left the company some time ago. Le has been working on his own game, Tactical Intervention, with a development team based out of South Korea. A teaser trailer has now hit the web and, well, see for yourself:

The short clip doesn't show much action, but it does highlight a few features you won't find in Counter-Strike: car chases, attack dogs, and rappelling. Otherwise, Tactical Intervention looks like a CS clone with more detailed environments. Rock, Paper, Shotgun has published a huge gallery of screenshots from the game, and I'm digging some of the little touches. The graphics do look a bit dated, though.

Tactical Intervention could be a lot of fun, especially since it brings back the VIP escort missions I loved so much in older versions of CS. However, it seems unlikely Le will enjoy anywhere close to the success he had with Counter-Strike. Heck, Global Offensive probably doesn't have a shot at unseating the original CS as the most popular multiplayer game on Steam.